Date of publication: April 15, 2022 • 4 hours ago • 15 minutes of reading Paramedics take a patient to the emergency department at Saint-Mary Hospital in Montreal. Photo by John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette
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Updated all day on Friday 15 April. Questions / Comments: [email protected]
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Montreal residents are urged to avoid swampy ER hospitals Tough two weeks ahead for Quebec ERs facing COVID-19, flu, sick staff The coronavirus that remains in the stool offers clues as to the cause of long-term COVID Health officials offer advice on how to reduce the risk of celebrations in the middle of a sixth wave Note: Updated COVID numbers are not available Beware of pandemic fatigue – BA.2 subtype remains dangerous, experts say Quebec has seen a “significant” increase in cases last week, according to the CIRANO research center. Aislin: Sixth Wave Navigation Ontario’s top doctor proposes extending mask order to hospitals, transit Regulations are over, but many Montreal students still wear masks in class ‘Parents need to be informed’: Montreal mother warns of rare COVID syndrome Greenhouse gas emissions in Canada fall in first year of pandemic Long COVID: The invisible public health crisis that fuels labor shortages Shanghai turns homes into COVID isolation facilities, sparking protests Quebec COVID guide: Vaccinations, tests Sign up for our free nightly coronavirus newsletter
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16:00
Thanks for reading
Please note that our blog and newsletter will not be published on Monday due to public holidays. But both will return on Tuesday. One of my colleagues will take over as I leave on Tuesday and Wednesday You can watch all of our coverage through the coronavirus page. My previous live blogs about COVID-19 are available here. 3:35 p.m.
Montreal residents are urged to avoid swampy ER hospitals
Quebec did not release up-to-date statistics on the state of COVID-19 in the province today due to the Easter holidays. However, there was new evidence that the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on provincial hospitals. This morning, the Montreal Department of Public Health urged residents to avoid emergency hospitals because they are cramped.
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Hours later, health authorities in the Outaouais area of western Quebec suspended all hospital visits until further notice, as many health facilities in the area were experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks. The news comes a day after Health Minister Christian Dube said the next two weeks would be difficult in the province’s emergency. Many people living in nursing homes are expected to go to the ER in the next few days due to COVID, the flu or other reasons. “Often these people, if they are sick, we can not send them back to their homes right away, so it causes overcrowding,” Dubé said. Hospitals are also struggling because 13,000 health workers are absent due to COVID In a statement posted on the Internet today, the Center étégré de santé et de services sociaux de l’Outaouais said it was suspending visits “to ensure the protection of our most vulnerable users, health workers and the general public”.
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He said caregivers will be able to continue to visit loved ones to help them. Visits for humanitarian reasons remain possible. However, caregivers and people who want to visit for humanitarian reasons can not enter hospitals if they have symptoms, the health authority said. These are the hospitals that are affected:
Gatineau Hospital Hull Hospital Papineau Hospital Maniwaki Hospital Shawville Hospital Wakefield Hospital Pierre Janet Hospital
On Thursday, the head of the Quebec Association of Emergency Physicians warned that the next two weeks would be difficult. Hospitals are facing a “perfect storm” of issues – inflows of patients with COVID and flu amid severe labor shortages, the president of the Association des specialistes en medecine d’urgence, Dr, told the Canadian press. Gilbert Boucher.
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“For two or three weeks now, there have been many more viruses,” he said. “(Gastroenteritis) has been around for four to six weeks, our flu is hitting a little bit, but there are a lot of small viruses right now.” He said: “It’s a perfect storm – we have not seen these patient tumors for almost two years. It is very difficult and the next two weeks will be quite difficult.” ΔωμάτιαThe emergency rooms are very busy. When should you move there? . Only if your health condition requires immediate care. pic.twitter.com/HXo632wGAJ – Health Montreal (@santemontreal) April 15, 2022
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2:50 p.m.
Chinese truckers were blocked for days at the exit of the highway by hard-core COVID curbs
From the Reuters news agency: Earlier this month, Chinese truck driver Dong Zhigang completed a job in the coastal city of Nantong and embarked on what should have been a four-hour journey north to his village in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province. On Friday, nine sticky days in his taxi later, he had not yet arrived home. Like many Chinese truckers, Dong, 30, has fallen victim to some of the country’s recent crackdown on COVID and unrest as local authorities try to maintain China’s zero CoVID policy. He reached the exit of the highway leading to his village before officials told him that to enter he would need to do 14 days of central quarantine at a cost of at least 240 RMB per day, followed by another seven days of quarantine at home.
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“We could not afford it,” the father of two told Reuters, referring to the group of four to five trucks with which he was waiting. Dong had a negative COVID test that day and had not been to medium or high risk areas. But officials were in no mood for discussion. He said he was told: “I do not care where you came from.” The locals provided the drivers with two packed meals a day, but there were no toilets or showers. On Thursday afternoon, a group of more than a dozen riot police officers, including several SWAT officers, told Dong and his entourage that they had to leave immediately, otherwise they would be fined and lose their driving licenses. Police said they did not care where the drivers went, according to Dong. So the team agreed and moved to another exit higher on the highway.
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Later, a village official contacted the group and said that they could count the days they had parked on the highway for the 14 days in central quarantine, thus significantly reducing their costs. Dong, desperate to return home to complete the urgent work on the farm, agreed to go and on Friday waited to be quarantined. But at least one member of the group, Wang, told Reuters he would stay in office. Hundreds of toll stations at motorway exits and gas stations have closed across the country this month, according to official figures. “I would drive seven or eight hours without a break,” Dong said. “There was nowhere to get off the highway.” Following a government push earlier this week to open routes, that number has dropped in many areas. However, as of midnight on Thursday, 91 toll booth exits and 44 gas stations in Jiangsu Province remained closed, according to government figures.
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The Jiangsu government did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters. While COVID-related requirements vary widely across China, many sites have taken increasingly cautious approaches recently. Dong said his order numbers and profits had halved since early March because of the impact of COVID-19 policies he had faced. 1:10 p.m.
The coronavirus that remains in the stool offers clues as to the cause of long-term COVID
From Bloomberg News Agency: Patients with COVID-19 may have the coronavirus in their stool for months after infection, the researchers found, raising concerns that its persistence could worsen the immune system and cause long-term COVID symptoms.
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In the largest study monitoring SARS-CoV-2 RNA in faeces and COVID symptoms, scientists at Stanford University in California found that about half of infected patients threw traces of the virus in their waste the week after infection and nearly 4 percent of patients still transmit them seven months later. The researchers also linked coronavirus RNA to faeces with gastric disorders and concluded that SARS-CoV-2 probably directly infects the gastrointestinal tract, where it may be hidden. “He considers the question that persistent infections in hidden parts of the body may be important for long-term COVID,” said Ami Bhatt, senior author of the study, which was published …
